What is Online Usability Testing?

CX & UX Content Collection

Most designers and developers like to test their products with end consumers and get feedback.

But user testing is commonly thought of as expensive and time-consuming, right?

In a nutshell, online usability testing is a cost-effective and agile way to test your website or mobile app. It has become a popular method used in user experience and usability research that facilitates an automated collection of qualitative and quantitative feedback from participants, or end users, of websites or mobile apps.

These users take the study simultaneously (asynchronous), they may be located in different locations, in their natural context, using their own PC or device.

Unlike traditional in-lab user testing, Online Usability Testing does not require a moderator, therefore it is less expensive and less time-consuming, while still providing reliable and actionable data and results (see more details below).

How it Works in 4 Basic Steps:

Once it’s ready, you need to recruit participants and invite them to participate. Users can be recruited through a panel provider, via email, social media, etc.

Participants simultaneously take the test from their own computer or device and in their own environment (a.k.a ‘in-the-wild’ testing). No moderation is needed. During the study, participants are provided a set of tasks or goals and are asked to walk through it as they normally would. They may be also asked to provide thoughts out loud (think-aloud process). After the tasks, they’re asked to provide feedback after the task completion via a follow-up questionnaire.

The software tracks and collects data real time, including success ratios, time on task, clickstreams, heatmaps, video, audio, facial expressions, mouse movements, responses to the questionnaires, etc. Results can be accessed through an analytics dashboard, shared with others or exported to Powerpoint, Word, Excel or SPSS.